


Port Charles Revisited

by captainamergirl



Series: Port Charles Revisited [1]
Category: General Hospital, Port Charles
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, No Vampires or Other Demons, Old-fashioned soap drama, circa 2000, life before the arcs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 11:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15773508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: A Port Charles ensemble fan fiction. All-human... Shifting allegiances, broken relationships, torrid love triangles, twisted revenge plots … Bake at 350 degrees and this is what you get.





	1. Christina's Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that I started writing this series in 2007 so if it's a little shall we say, juvenile, well I was younger then haha I still hope it has some potential though. I miss this soap! At least the non-vampire version of it!

**Episode 1: Christina’s Legacy**  
  
_**Ferncliff Sanitarium  
September 1999**_  
  
“I can’t believe we’re really married, Chris,” Julie Devlin-Ramsey said as she sat in his lap. Even being in Ferncliff could not ruin her perfect day.   
  
“Too bad we can’t celebrate here,” Chris said, stroking her pretty face.   
  
“Well, Chris – just think when I get out of here – and I **will** get out of here – we can ‘celebrate’ any time we want. Why, we’ll make a dozen beautiful siblings for Christina to play with.”   
  
“A dozen?” Chris choked. “I don't know about. That seems like a helluva lot of diapers to change.”  
  
“Okay how about five kids then?”   
  
“Go lower,” Chris said, smiling.  
  
“Okay, two,” Julie said.   
  
“That’s better. I’m not really equipped to be a father considering the shitty one I had.”  
  
“You’ll be good at it; trust me,” she said. “Of course before we have babies, we’ll need to renew our vows. All of our remaining friends will be there, of course, and it will be like a huge party. It will be the most perfect day ever.”  
  
“Will I have to wear a tux?” He asked.   
  
“Yes, of course. You look so good all dressed up. Besides, what’s a vow renewal without a tux?” Julie said, sounding perfectly reasonable. And more softly, she added, “I love you, Chris. I can’t wait to start our new life together.”  
  
“I love you too,” Chris said, kissing her. “And now can we stop talking about all of this mushy stuff?”  
  
“Just say you love me one more time. It does my ears good to hear it.”  
  
“Mrs. Ramsey, I will love you always and forever.”  
  
“That's Mrs. Devlin-Ramsey to you,” Julie teased, kissing him again.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
 ** _One Year Later..._**  
  
_**Somewhere in Oklahoma  
**_  
Julie Devlin awakened from a restless sleep. She was having the dream again – the one where she married Chris. It was welcome, but at the same time, it made her sad. She had no idea what Chris was up to these days. Maybe he had met another woman to take her place. Julie missed him with all of her heart.   
  
She sat up in the bed when she heard Christina crying in the other room. “I’m coming,” she said, getting up slowly so she didn’t fall. The leukemia was wearing her down and she knew that eventually she would have to say goodbye to her little girl. She dreaded it. _With every fiber of her being._   
  
She went into her daughter’s room. Christina was standing up in her little bed and reached out for her momma when Julie walked over. “Hello there, sweetness, you’re wide awake, aren’t you?” Christina was almost two years old now and she was getting heavy but Julie picked her up anyway.   
  
“Let’s change you and then you can eat. Do you want some more of that rice cereal you like?” Julie asked, rubbing her nose against her daughter’s affectionately. Christina laughed and snuggled with her mother.  
  
Julie dressed Christina in a warm denim jumper and carried her out to the kitchen. She put Christina in her highchair and went to warm the cereal. Suddenly a wave of pain crashed over her and she sagged to the floor.   
  
Christina started to wail. _“Momma, momma!”_ she cried.   
  
XoXoXo  
  
_**The Resident’s Lounge -  
General Hospital**_  
  
“What’s bothering you, Ramsey?” Eve Lambert-Collins asked. “You look pale.”  
  
Chris looked up, startled. He had been looking out the window, lost in his own thoughts and he hadn’t heard her come in. “It’s not important,” he said.  
  
“Sure it is. You look like death warmed over,” Eve said.   
  
“Gee thanks, Eve. And can I tell you to just shut the hell up?”   
  
Eve was taken aback. Chris was always a bit abrasive but right now he was being downright mean. “What’s stuck in your craw, Ramsey?” she demanded. “Did your date last night stand you up?”  
  
Chris sighed. “It was a woman.”   
  
“Huh? What?”  
  
“A woman I treated – she died,” he said at a loss for words. “She died right on the operating table. She has a young daughter and there isn’t a father in the picture. I don’t know what’s going to happen to the kid.”  
  
“I imagine she’ll go into foster care,” Eve said sadly.   
  
“Probably,” he said. “It makes me think of …”  
  
“What?” Eve asked, touching his arm softly.  
  
“Christina – and Julie. I keep thinking what if - God forbid - something happened to Julie. What would become of Christina? She's not even two years old yet. She needs her mom.”  
  
“You really loved them.”  
  
Chris nodded. “I was really happy for the first time in my life and it all got snatched away when she left.”  
  
“I am still angry about that,” Eve said. “How could she just take Christina away from her parents? Lucy and Scott haven’t been the same since.”  
  
“They weren’t her parents. Julie and Frank were her parents. I was her stepfather. I actually loved the idea of being a family with Julie and Christina.”  
  
“It’s true that they weren’t her biological parents, maybe, but they really loved her. I guess Julie couldn’t stand that.”  
  
“No, what she couldn’t understand is why those asses wouldn’t let her be with her baby. Taking Christina was Julie’s only chance to be with her daughter the way she was meant to be.”  
  
“That’s bull and you know it,” Eve said. “If Julie could have provided a good home for Christina, she would have gotten custody. She was a nut job and to this day, I am not sure that I believe that she didn’t commit the General Homicide murders.”  
  
Chris suddenly grabbed Eve and shook her as hard as he could. “Don’t you ever talk badly about Julie again,” he hissed.  
  
Eve’s eyes grew wide and she tried to pull away. “Get your damn hands off me, Ramsey!” she commanded.   
  
The door opened and Eve’s husband Kevin Collins strode in. “Hey, hey, what’s going on here?”   
  
Chris let Eve go. “Nothing,” he muttered.  
  
“Don’t tell me that,” Kevin snapped. “I saw you assaulting my wife. I’m going to call the police.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket.  
  
“Put that away, Kevin. I’m not hurt,” Eve said.   
  
Chris pushed past Eve and Kevin and walked out of the room.  
  
“I really should call the police,” Kevin said. “That kind of behavior is not acceptable.”  
  
“No, don’t,” Eve said. “He’s having a really bad day.”  
  
“That’s no excuse for him to man-handle you.”  
  
“Look, I’m fine,” Eve said. “Just leave it alone. I can handle Ramsey.”  
  
“Whatever you say.”  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Julie awoke and found herself lying on the kitchen floor. Christina was crying hysterically. Julie pulled herself up to a sitting position with all of the strength she had left in her frail body.  
  
“Its okay, Chrissy, please don’t cry,” Julie said. She had to crawl over to the phone because she was so weak. She dialed 911.   
  
Julie was slightly panicked herself and Christina’s crying just made it worse. She explained to the dispatcher that she had fallen and needed help. Before she could finish, she blacked out again and landed on the floor in a heap. The last thing she heard was Christina screaming “Momma, momma!”  
  
~*~*~  
  
_**Lucy and Scott’s Place**_   
  
Lucy Coe was working on some designs for the new Deception campaign when Scott walked in the door.   
  
“You were gone all night again,” Lucy said without looking up.  
  
“Is that a question or an accusation?” Scott asked, throwing his jacket over the arm of the couch.  
  
“Take it however you want.”  
  
“Do you want to know where I go?”  
  
“I don’t care,” Lucy said.  
  
“You should. You’re my wife in case you’ve forgotten.”   
  
“In name only,” Lucy said, fighting back tears. She really didn’t like fighting; she just couldn’t communicate with Scott anymore. Christina’s kidnapping had broken them apart – it was hard to imagine things would ever be right between them again. The past year had been utterly miserable for both of them and they knew Serena was feeling the strain.  
  
“Oh that’s great, Lucy, really great,” Scott said. “You are acting like such a petulant child.”  
  
“Scott, just shut up please. I’m getting a headache,” she said, massaging her temples with her fingers as if that act alone could make her pain evaporate.  
  
Serena ran into the room, hazel eyes flashing. “Would you two please just stop fighting?” She begged. “I can’t take it anymore!”   
  
“You don’t have to,” Scott said. “I’m leaving!”  
  
Lucy was startled but she didn’t speak. For once, she knew she could not say the first thing that came to her mind.  
  
“Dad, where are you going?” Serena asked, running a hand through her long sandy-colored hair. She was so frustrated with her parents. They had been fighting for months on end, ever since the “crazy lady”, as she referred to Julie, had kidnapped Christina. Lucy and Scott were not half as attentive as they used to be, and even at fifteen years of age, Serena longed to be important in her family’s eyes once again.  
  
“I’m going to stay at Jake’s for awhile,” he said.   
  
“Isn’t Jake’s a bar?”  
  
“Yes, but it has rooms on the second floor.”  
  
“Are you and mom getting a divorce?” Serena asked.   
  
“I don’t know,” Scott answered, glancing at Lucy who quickly looked away. “I do know I need to leave now before your mom and I say or do something that we can’t take back.”  
  
Serena sighed. “You always say things you should regret – both of you.” She gave them each pointed looks and then turned to face her father. “Can I visit you at Jake’s?” she asked.  
  
“Oh no,” Lucy said, breaking her temporary bout of silence. “You may not. I’m not going to have my fifteen year old daughter at a bar.”   
  
“Lucy, you just had to open your mouth, didn’t you?” Scott accused. “I was going to tell her not to come see me there but you had to show me up.”  
  
“That was not what I was trying to do, Scott. You are so incredibly juvenile. I just can't stand it."  
  
"Can't stand me, you mean. That's what you really meant to say, right?"  
  
“You two are doing it again!” Serena yelled, covering her ears. “I’m going to Mel’s house. Her parents don’t fight like you two do. There is actually some peace and quiet at her house.”  
  
“Don’t forget to take your jacket, sweet pea. It’s cold out there,” Lucy said.   
  
Serena grabbed her jacket and went to the door. “I wish you two would just kiss and makeup already.”  
  
Lucy and Scott waited until Serena was gone before they started going at it again.  
  
“She can’t even stand to be around us anymore,” Scott said.   
  
“Maybe if you would just make a little effort to be nice to me, she wouldn’t hate being around us all of the time,” Lucy said.  
  
“Why don’t you try being nice to _me,_ Lucy?” He asked. “It goes both ways.”  
  
Lucy stood to face him. “Just leave; go to Jake’s; get drunk; sleep with some barfly … I don’t care. Just get out of my face.” Lucy knew it was harsh, she knew it was wrong and that she never should have said it, but she couldn’t stand to be around him at this moment. He was right about that part. Looking at him was impossibly difficult.  
  
“Fine. I’m going,” Scott said. He put on his jacket and walked to the door. “Get a lawyer, Lucy, because it looks like you’re going to need one.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because I want a legal separation.”  
  
“Fine, whatever,” Lucy spat. She picked up a small vase and hurled it at his head. He was out the door before it made contact. It hit the wall and shattered.  
  
Lucy was left to clean up the shards of glass. She felt like she had been shattered too.


	2. Revelations

** Episode 2: Revelations **   
  
**_The Scanlon Home_ **   
  
Nurse Jill Garnett stood on the Scanlon’s porch, trying to get up the nerve to knock. The door suddenly opened and Joe’s brother, Frank, stood there.   
  
“Oh hi, Jill,” Frank said. “Did you need something?”   
  
“No, I came to see Joe,” she said. “I’m guess I’m a little nervous.”   
  
“Is there anything I can do?” Frank asked.   
  
“No. I just need to take to Joe about something privately. But if he wants to tell you, I won’t stop him.”   
  
Frank nodded. “Okay. Joe’s downstairs. He just got out of the shower so you might want to wait for a minute. Of course, there’s nothing to hide since you’ve seen it all,” he smirked.   
  
Jill blushed. “He told you we slept together?”   
  
“Yes,” Frank admitted. “Look I’ll see you later. I have to get to school.” Frank was a substitute teacher at Port Charles High and worked as an EMT at night.   
  
“Okay bye,” Jill said, watching him saunter towards his car. She went inside the house and down the stairs. She found Joe getting dressed. “Uh, sorry,” Jill said, turning to face the wall.   
  
“No, its okay,” Joe said. He finished putting on his scrubs. “You can turn now. I’m all done.”   
  
She turned to face him. “Joe, there is something I really need to talk with you about. I don’t even know where to begin …”   
  
“Just take it slow,” Joe said. “Why don’t you sit down?”   
  
“No, thanks.”   
  
“Can I get you some coffee?” he asked. “I was just about to make some.”   
  
She looked down at her white shoes. “No, no thanks. I have to tell you something. It’s really important – and life-changing.”   
  
“Okay, what is it?” Joe asked.   
  
“There is no easy way to tell you this,” Jill said. “I had been feeling sort of under the weather and asked Dr. Lambert to examine me since nurses shouldn’t diagnose themselves as you well know. She did a whole battery of tests and one came back positive.”   
  
“Positive?” Joe asked in a quiet voice, swallowing over a large lump of anxiety that had suddenly shot up into his throat.   
  
“Joe, I have HIV.”   
  
Joe felt like he had taken a punch to the gut. “Oh my god! We slept together, Jill. We didn’t use protection that night. That means ...”   
  
“You could be infected too.”   
  
Joe couldn’t speak as he rubbed his cheek and felt tears fill his eyes. Of all the things Joe had expected Jill to say, this was definitely  _not_ it.   
  
“I’m so sorry, Joe. After I found out, I called my ex-boyfriend and got him to admit that he has full blown AIDs now. He exposed me to HIV and I might have exposed you,” Jill said, breaking down in tears.   
  
“How could this happen?” Joe demanded. “Did you know you had HIV when we slept together?”   
  
Jill was taken aback by his question. “Of course not! I would never sleep with someone without telling them I had HIV first.”   
  
Joe punched the wall. He knew his hand would be bruised later but he didn’t care. “I think you should leave now, Nurse Garnett,” he said, going into professional mode.   
  
“I’m so sorry, Joe,” she said, reaching out to touch his arm. He quickly yanked it away.   
  
“I just bet you are,” he muttered.   
  
He watched her go and then fell back on the couch, trying to keep the tears from escaping his eyes.   
  
XoXoXo    
  
**_Courtney’s Place_ **   
  
“Neil, you’d better hurry up or you’ll be late for school,” Courtney Kanelos called out to her son.   
  
She was sitting on the couch thumbing through Vogue magazine. “I’m prettier than her. Why am I not making millions of dollars?” she asked herself.   
  
Neil walked into the room, carrying a backpack over his strong shoulder. She couldn’t help but marvel at the way he had shot up in the last year. He was now taller than her.   
  
“I’m getting a ride today,” he said.   
  
“From who?”   
  
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, being evasive.   
  
“Well of course it does,” Courtney said. “Who are you riding with?”   
  
“Adam Tucker.”   
  
“Isn’t he a senior?”   
  
“Yeah, so?”   
  
“I’m just surprised you two are friends. Most seniors don’t hang around with tenth graders. They think it’s not cool.”   
  
“Gee, thanks, Mom." He sighed. "Okay, we’re not really friends... I mean, exactly.”   
  
“Then why are you riding with him?” Courtney asked. “Oh. I get it. Isn’t Melissande, Adam’s sister?”   
  
“So? It’s not a big deal.”   
  
“Well you have a crush on her, right?”   
  
“Mom, can you stop asking so many questions?” Neil asked. “You’re embarrassing me.”   
  
“So you wouldn’t like it if I walked you to the car in my pink nightgown, wearing curlers in my hair?” She joked.   
  
Neil shook his head. “Please don’t do that, Mom.  _Please.”_ He should have known she was kidding but with Courtney Kanelos, you could never be completely sure. Unpredictable was her middle name.   
  
“I won’t; I won’t,” Courtney said. “Am I allowed to do this?” She said, starting to tickle his sides unmercifully.   
  
“Mom, stop!” he cried. “I’m too old to be tickled.”   
  
Courtney let him go. “You know something? You’re not fun anymore. Not since you became a teenager.”   
  
Neil smiled. “Whatever, Mom.”   
  
Someone was honking their horn outside. “Sounds like your date is here,” Courtney said, peeking out the window.   
  
“Ugh, Mom, you never quit, do you?”   
  
“Nope,” Courtney replied. “Now give me a hug goodbye.”   
  
Neil obliged with a brief, half-hearted embrace, and then quickly pulled away. He was too old to be caught hugging his mom. He ran outside, leaving Courtney to her thoughts.   
  
XoXoXo   
  
**_Port Charles High School (Room 143)_ **   
  
Frank stood at the front of the class, teaching sex education to a bunch of squirrelly ninth graders. He would be substituting this class for two weeks while the real teacher was kicking back on a cruise.  _Lucky her,_ Frank thought.   
  
It was slightly embarrassing to have to talk about a women’s private areas to a bunch of giggly adolescents but he needed the money and the EMT job just didn’t pay all that much. He was pretty much supporting Courtney on his small salary when he should have only been responsible for Neil. He often talked to Courtney about getting a job but she always had an excuse (“I don’t feel well” or “Taking care of a teenager is a full time job itself so why do I need another one?”). She always acted like such a princess; believing she was entitled to anything and everything.   
  
“Okay class, let’s turn to page 189,” he said. “Can anyone tell me what a uterus is?”   
  
A dark haired girl hurried into the class and slipped into a desk at the back of the room. “What’s your name?” Frank asked the girl.   
  
“Adrianna,” she said.   
  
“Well, Adrianna, do you know what time it is?”   
  
She shrugged. “It's eighty-thirty. You’ve already missed half of the class,” Frank said.   
  
“Who cares?” Adrianna replied.   
  
“I care,” he said. “You need to know this stuff. We’re having a test on the material next week.”   
  
“I know all I need to know,” she said evenly.   
  
“I don’t want to waste anymore time discussing this right now. Please see me after class.”   
  
Adrianna shrugged. “Whatever,” she muttered sullenly.   
  
XoXoXo   
  
_**General Hospital (6th Floor)** _   
  
Joe got off the elevator and approached the nurse’s desk. “Colleen, has Dr. Lambert come in yet?”   
  
“Yes. I think she’s with a patient. Is this important? I could page her,” Colleen asked with a friendly smile on her face.   
  
“Please do,” Joe said.   
  
“Hey, Joe,” Gabriela Garza said, walking over to him. Her thick, curly hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and was smiling, obviously happy to see him. But at the moment, she was the very last person he wanted to see. They had been dating casually for the past month and had been approaching a physical relationship. Explaining why he now had to put the brakes on their bonding was something he had never planned on doing; had never wanted to do.   
  
“Hello,” Joe said shortly and then walked away to sit in one of the chairs in the waiting room.   
  
"Are you okay, Joe?” Gabriela asked.   
  
“I’m fine,” Joe answered stiffly.   
  
“You don’t look fine.”   
  
“I  _said_ I’m fine,” Joe shouted. “Could you just leave me alone?”   
  
Gabriela was surprised at his words. “Fine, whatever. I was just trying to be nice.” She turned on her heel and walked away.   
  
Joe knew he should feel sorry for the way he had spoken to her but he just didn’t at the moment – not when his whole life was falling apart.   
  
Eve spotted him and walked over. “Hey there. What’s up, Joe?”   
  
“Why don’t you tell me, Eve?”   
  
“What do you mean?”   
  
“I mean am I going to die?” Joe asked.   
  
“All of us die eventually …”   
  
“Not of HIV they don’t," he hissed.   
  
“I guess you talked to Jill,” Eve said.   
  
“Yes. Why didn’t you tell me?”   
  
“Because she was my patient in this instance and I couldn’t betray her trust. That wouldn’t be ethical and you know that.”   
  
“But you and I are friends. At least I thought we were. You should have told me. What am I supposed to do now?”   
  
“Joe, just calm down. Take a deep breath. Then I’ll walk you to the doctor’s lounge and find someone to draw your blood. It will be totally confidential.”   
  
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Joe said, stalking away.   
  
Eve watched him walk away and sighed.   
  
“What is in the water here? Suddenly all of the men are acting like brutes,” she said.   
  
XoXoXo   
  
**_Lucy and Scott’s Home_ **   
  
Lucy was trying to take a nap when there was a loud knock on the door. Her heart leapt in her chest. Maybe it was Scott and he had forgotten his key when he rushed out the night before. At least that is what she hoped was the case.   
  
She ran to the door and threw it open. “Scott, I–“ she started to say but stopped because it wasn’t him.   
  
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.   
  
“Hey, Lucy,” Courtney Kanelos said. “I have the answer to all your problems.”   
  
XoXoXo   
  
**_A hospital in Oklahoma_ **   
  
“Ms. Monroe, you’re getting worse,” Dr. Lyle said. Kate Monroe had been Julie’s alias since she moved to Oklahoma.   
  
Julie was currently lying in a hospital bed feeling utterly miserable. She tried not to move because when she did, it hurt so badly. “Where’s my daughter?” She managed to croak out.   
  
“She’s down in the pediatric play room,” the doctor replied. “Now let’s talk about you.”   
  
“Okay …” Julie said, slowly inching herself up to a sitting position on the pillows.   
  
“I think you realize that you don’t have much time left,” the doctor said, not unkindly. “You will need to make arrangements for yourself and your child. You also need someone to look after you. You’re too weak to have to do everything yourself.”   
  
Julie’s eyes misted. “I know.”   
  
“Isn’t there anyone you can call?”   
  
“There is someone …”   
  
“Call him or her up immediately. There’s not much time left.” He picked up the phone and brought it over to her and then he left the room. Julie picked up the phone. What if he had a different number now? Or what if he was with some woman and didn’t care about her anymore? Julie wondered. She didn't want to call him; didn't want to upset his life, but the thought of her daughter being tossed into some orphanage made Julie dial the numbers on the phone.   
  
It rang two times and then he picked up. His voice was gruff. “Chris Ramsey here."   
  
She blinked back tears. “Chris, it's - it's Julie.”   
  
_On the other side of the line, Chris felt his knees go weak._


End file.
